It has come to our attention that the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers of Iraq has adopted a decision that restricts the official use of Turkmen language in Kirkuk.

This decision constitutes a violation of the fundamental rights of the Turkmens, who are one of the constituent and primary components of Iraq. It also clearly contradicts with the provisions of the Iraqi Constitution as Article Four of the Constitution stipulates that Turkmen will be the official language in the administrative units in which Turkmen population is concentrated. Likewise, Article 125 of the Iraqi Constitution emphasizes that the Constitution guarantees the administrative and cultural rights of all components of Iraq.

We believe that such steps, which ignore the rights and sensitivities of one of the main components of Iraq and the province of Kirkuk, will harm the efforts towards establishing a culture of peaceful coexistence in Kirkuk.

We invite the Iraqi authorities to review this decision as soon as possible.